Reuben and Charlie's Trip to OZ

October

Charlie....After our good starts in round 1 against Pennant Hills, two weeks of solid rain and thunder storms set in, meaning that the round 1 fixtures were all drawn, giving Roseville 0 points. This was a disappointing result especially as we looked set to win in both of mine and Reuben’s matches. The rain also meant that the first day of round 3 against rivals Lindfield was also called off, turning the game into a one day match the following week. In my game we arrived at a very wet and muddy Lindfield Oval, winning the toss and putting Lindfield in to bat. The slow wicket proved hard to bat on for the opposition, meaning that Roseville took regular wickets, eventually bowling Lindfield out for 98, with me finishing with figures of 2-23 off of my 7 overs. In the Roseville innings, we polished off the runs only 3 down in a fairly straightforward chase. This left Roseville in 4th position in the table with 7 points.

Roseville vs Lindfield

Reuben...Second grade were at home for round 2's one day game. I was told to arrive at the ground at 6am to help get the pitch ready after all the heavy rain we'd had, but ended up spending most of my time removing flares from the outfield. Roseville won the toss and we elected to field. Two wickets were taken in the first over and it looked like it was going to be a short day. However, a substantial partnership between two of Lindfield's middle order batsman and some pinch hitting at the end saw themreach 213 before being bowled out in the 49th over. Roseville got off to a good start in the run chase, but after losing the two openers in quick succession the runs slowed up. Soon the run rate was over a run-a-ball so this meant some quick runs were needed. After some lusty blows I was caught on the boundary for 68. The wickets then tumbled and Roseville ended up on 187-8 before being brought off for thunder and lightning. This meant we lost the game by 10 runs on D/L leaving us with no points and 8th in the league.

Reuben batting vs. Lindfield at Roseville

Team of the Century cap presented at the100th year dinner

Later on that following night was the Roseville Cricket Club 100th year dinner which me and Charlie eventually got to after wandering aimlessly round Darling harbour in the rain. There were roughly 170 people in attendance and it certainly was a pretty special occasion. The night was MC'd by the Grade Cricketer who didn't disappoint and included Ed Cowan as the guest of honour. A team of the century was also announced which included the current first grade captain. Fireworks were set off from a barge in the centre of the harbour and once the unlimited alcohol stopped being served we headed downstairs to the clubs and bars on the waterfront where we spent the rest of the night.

"Hello, Reuben here. Have you ever thought about upgrading to a premium package?"

During the week I managed to get a job at a cricket shop in a neighbouring suburb called Artarmon, and Reuben did his first and last days at a call centre, as he decided 7 hours a day of being sworn at by people he had just cold called was probably not for him.

As you can see, we've also visited some fairly average beaches like Manly and Bondi. However, we'd obviously rather be in a cold, wet England at the moment.

Bondi had a particularly peachy view

The Tantallon Oval

Reuben ....Round three saw the return of two-day games and second grade were play Lane Cove away at Tantallon Oval. We lost the toss and to our surprise were asked to bat on one of the flattest pitches I have ever come across. Therefore, batting was pretty straight forward and most of the team got off to good starts but only one went on to score 50+ meaning after 74 overs we were all out for 216. Five overs of fielding followed and after losing an early wicket Lane Cove had two night watchmen at the crease by the end of the days play.

Day two, and the two night watchmen proved difficult to remove at first, one of which scored a rapid 4 runs off 55 balls. A couple of wickets fell in quick succession down to some favourable umpiring decisions and at 38-5 it was looking like a short day of cricket. However, Lane Cove managed a couple of decent partnerships in the middle order and it was looking like the game was going to be a bit closer than we first thought. After 80 overs we eventually dismissed Lane Cove for 169 meaning a win by 47 runs and six points which meant we maintained our position of 8th in the league. I finished the match with 21 runs, figures of 10-3-21-1 and two catches.

Charlie....in my game at home we also lost the toss and Lane Cove sent us into bat. We batted well through the day, and with around 20 overs left in the day and after 8 weeks of being in the country, it was finally my turn to bat in a competitive match. I ended up being caught behind for 27, and shortly after Roseville declared on 306-9, mainly helped by the 123 scored by our number 5 batsman Ron. The declaration left us with around 6 overs left in the day to bowl at the opposition openers who somehow managed to survive despite giving away a couple of chances, meaning that Lane Cove ended the day on 25-0, requiring 281 to win the following week.

So the following week we turned up to the ground knowing what we had to do, take 10 wickets in 80 overs. We started well, dismissing one of the Lane Cove openers early, Lane Cove's captain joined their pomey overseas at the crease. After the overseas was dismissed, the pressure was placed firmly on the captain, especially due to the shakiness of the Lane Cove middle order. I then managed to bowl the Lane Cove number 4 around his legs which would prove to be my only wicket of the day. Then after drinks Roseville's opening bowler Rob took 4 wickets in 2 overs, leaving Lane Cove with around 150 runs still to get with only three wickets in hand. However we were to only take one more wicket as the Lane Cove skipper saw them home with a very well timed hundred, along with their number ten (whose top score in the last three years was 10) who somehow managed to village his way to 62. Overall a very disappointing result especially because of the position Roseville were in at points during the game. This result left the first grade side in 5th position after round 3, with the top 6 sides reaching the finals once all 13 rounds are completed.

Next month we will have more cricket club events to report on as well as the next three rounds, against clubs called Epping, Macquarie University and Burwood and the commencement of the U24s competition.

September

After months of planning, the big day finally arrived. As we woke up the feelings of nerves and excitement shifted into a feeling of realisation that we were genuinely travelling half way around the world for the next six months. We arrived at Heathrow with more kit than even Iain Haggart would manage to bring and the advice of anyone and everyone who had even heard of Sydney ringing in our ears (including some highly illegal and frankly immoral advice involving kangaroos from club coach van Noort).

However, before we could get the chance to follow any of this advice we were faced with the prospect of a massive 33 hour flight to Sydney via Houston, Texas. This was particularly daunting for us as, although Reubs had flown 10 hours to America, I had never flown for longer than 3 hours in my life.

Three days and 13,467 miles later, we finally touched down in Sydney. After a short delay due to Reuben’s trainers apparently being too unsanitary to enter the country, we were greeted by Rob, whom we’d be staying with until next April. Rob quickly made us feel at home by giving us a tour of the city, eventually arriving at his house in the leafy North Sydney suburb of Killara.

Roseville CC's ground

A few extremely jet lagged days later and we were faced with our first match, a one day trial match against local rivals Lindfield (a name that made us feel right at home). We arrived at Lindfield’s ground not knowing what to expect, especially as we had been told that the groundsman last year had managed to mark a wicket 22 metres long as opposed to the usual 22 yards for one match, which was only noticed as one player was unsurprisingly run out. Roseville lost the toss and were put into bat, with Reubs batting at number 4 and me at 7. We finished on 170-2 from our 50 overs, me and Reubs making 18 n/o and 20 retired out (to give more players a hit) respectively. During the second innings Roseville were in control the whole way taking regular wickets throughout, bowling Lindfield out in the 43rd over, around 30 short of what they needed. We both bowled well, Reuben taking 1 wicket after bowling very consistently for his 7 overs and myself ending up with 2 for not many after 7 overs. A good introduction to cricket in Australia for us and we couldn’t wait to get going next week as the league matches commenced.

North Sydney Cricket Ground

Drummoyne Oval

During the week we went to the North Sydney Oval, a beautiful old ground in the city to watch New South Wales take on Tasmania in the JLT Cup, as well as a trip into the centre of Sydney to see the Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House.

On Saturday the league season kicked off against a team called Pennant Hills. We quickly learned that matches are very different here than they are back home. Games are played over two consecutive Saturdays during which there are 80 overs in a day with teams needing to bowl the other out in order to win (obtaining 6 points). However, there is the possibility to win outright, where if one team has already bowled the other out they can choose to bat again and then try and bowl the opposition out for a second time meaning that the winner would get 10 points instead of the usual 6.

In both of our games we won the toss and bowled first. In Reuben’s game Roseville 2nd grade bowled out Pennant Hills for 207 with Reuben bowling extremely tightly picking up 1 wicket for 31 from his 14 overs. In reply Roseville were well placed on 30-0 at the close of play, with Reuben batting at number 4. In my game Pennant Hills lost wickets fairly regularly with the wickets shared between each of the bowlers. I managed to pick up an extremely jammy wicket with my first ball, as the Pennant Hills batman managed to sweep the ball onto his own stumps. However it was reported on Twitter that I’d bowled him round his legs, so I’ll take it. I ended up with figures of 12-4-35-2 as Pennant Hills were bowled out for 182. At the close of play Roseville finished on 70-1, meaning that both me and Reuben were well placed to win our first games the following Saturday.

After the days play finished the first social event of the season started which was called lock in. For $50 we had access to free beer all night, beer Olympics as well as other ‘entertainment’. Although the beer Olympics almost killed us, it was a great night and something we should definitely try and replicate at Chilt.

Next month the league will continue with the second half of round 1 as well as rounds 2 and 3. There is also Roseville’s 100 year dinner in the centre of the city to look forward to and we’ll try to keep everyone updated as to how we get on.